CH 96.1

Translator – Xiao He Lian

Chapter 96.1

Lord Yin hurriedly pulled the curtain at his hand to stabilize his figure, his small eyes were widened in fright and he turned his head to look at Wen Chi in a panic: “What’s going on!”

Despite what they said, they had been through a lot, and even with their eyes closed, they could guess that someone was probably coming —or someone with malicious intentions.

Wen Chi’s complexion was not very good either. He reached out to help Lord Yin who almost fell to the ground and comforted him: “Lord Yin, please wait here for a while, I’ll go out and have a look.”

Lord Yin said anxiously: “Wen Chi!”

Wen Chi patted him on the shoulder lightly, then stood up, supported the roof of the carriage and quickly got out.

It was hard to tell where the carriage was currently located but he saw that the surrounding area was covered with thick snow, which was quite dazzling. Because of this, the man in black standing in front of the carriage was particularly conspicuous.

The entire head of the man in black was wrapped in a black cloth, revealing only a pair of fierce eyes. He was holding a dagger in his right hand, stabbing a guard right in the chest.

The guard vomited blood and his body convulsed, then the guard tilted his head and fell silent.

The man in black drew out his dagger neatly, pushed away the guard who fell on him and then turned his head as if sensing Wen Chi’s gaze.

Wen Chi was shocked and was instantly stimulated by the strong smell of blood in the air, making his mind go blank for a moment.

He glanced in front of him and saw that the four guards who were originally sitting in that carriage had become corpses and were lying on the snow, and even the two carriage drivers had not been spared.

Obviously, the man in black came for him and Lord Yin.

However, Wen Chi’s intuition told him that the man in black was probably only here for him.

At this moment, the man in black suddenly used qingong to fly towards Wen Chi, and at the same time he raised his right hand violently and the dagger in his hand struck towards Wen Chi through the air with lightning speed.

Wen Chi’s breath caught in his throat and he reflexively turned around, watching the blood-stained dagger brush pass him.

The strong wind swept through him and a strand of his black hair was cut by the sharp blade of the dagger, drifting into the snow with the wind.

Wen Chi didn’t have time to glance at the fallen strand of hair as he fiercely raised his hand to block black man’s attack.

The man in black was very fast and he approached Wen Chi in the blink of an eye. Seeing that the first sneak attack was unsuccessful, he quickly launched a second attack. He took out a new dagger with his left hand out of nowhere, without saying a word he stabbed it at Wen Chi’s shoulder—compared to the deadly attack on the guards just now, he obviously wanted to capture Wen Chi alive.

Seeing this, Wen Chi instantly understood.

This person really came for him.

Wen Chi turned to dodge again.

Because the distance between him and the man in black was too close this time, he barely avoided the dagger in the man’s hand. If the man in black moved a little further, it might have hit his shoulder.

“Wait a minute!” Wen Chi was anxious and he opened his mouth and said weakly, “Brother, I surrender!”

The man in black didn’t seem to have expected Wen Chi to beg for mercy so quickly, and there was a momentary hesitation in his movements.

But at this moment, Wen Chi suddenly raised his foot and kicked at the man between his legs.

This kick was made with full force.

The man in black let out a tragic wail and his body trembled visibly to the naked eye.

Even though the man in black covered his face tightly with a black cloth, the sharp pain rippled through his eyes and he stared at Wen Chi with an extremely cold and fierce look in his eyes, as if he was about to eat him alive.

As a man, just imagining the pain of being kicked in the balls gave him goosebumps, but he was in no mood to pity the man in black. While the man in black was covering his crotch in pain, he turned around and ran.

In order for the man in black to catch up to him, he purposely only used 60% to 70% of his qingong.

After flying for a while, he looked back.

Sure enough, the man in black chased after him but his eyes were bloodshot and his vicious gaze was like sharp needles quenched with poison. It seemed that Wen Chi’s kick had completely offended him just now.

Fortunately, after that kick, the man in black’s movements were hindered. Even though Wen Chi deliberately slowed down, he couldn’t catch up with Wen Chi for the time being.

Wen Chi hung on to the man in black like this until he flew a long distance before he was ready to get rid of him – he was good at qingong but that was all he was good at. If he started fighting with the man in black, eight or nine time out of ten, he couldn’t be able to beat the man in black and  if not to save Lord Yin in the carriage, he would not have risked running so far.

Just as Wen Chi was about to speed up, a pale yellow figure suddenly descended from the sky and landed lightly in front of him.

Taking a closer look, it was none other than Zuo Zhi.

The man in black chasing after Wen Chi seemed to know Zuo Zhi. When he saw Zuo Zhi, his eyes changed suddenly, and he turned around to run.

Zuo Zhi didn’t give him a chance to escape, with a slight tap from her toes, she flew up easily like a pale yellow butterfly, caught up with the man in black and hit him in the chest with a palm strike using her internal energy.

The man in black let out a muffled grunt, couldn’t withstand the blow, so he fell from mid-air and landed heavily on the snow.

Zuo Zhi landed in front of the man expressionlessly.

Wen Chi rushed over to greet her: “Zuo Zhi!”

Zuo Zhi looked up at Wen Chi, and a trace of warmth flashed across her cold eyes. She called out to him and when she lowered her eyes to look at the man, she suddenly realized that something was wrong. She frowned and reached out to pinch the man’s chin to stop something.

Unfortunately it was too late.

She saw that the man’s eyes quickly became lax, his pupils gradually dilated, and in a short while he lost focus.

Zuo Zhi’s face was grave, and as soon as she pulled the black cloth off the man’s face. She saw a plain face, with scarlet blood spilling silently out of the corners of his mouth.

Zuo Zhi put her hand under his nose: “He’s dead.”

Wen Chi remembered that Zuo Zhi just hit the man on the chest, but it should not be enough to kill him… but still, the man died so quickly. He was startled: “How did he die?”

Zuo Zhi pinched the man’s cheek, forcing open his mouth.

Blood gushed out from his mouth immediately and wet Zuo Zhi’s fingertips. Without realizing it, Zuo Zhi took out a black pill that he hadn’t swallowed from inside.

Wen Chi looked at the pill and immediately understood what was going on – when he ran with the crew for experience1(rmbr he was originally going to adapt a novel to a drama?), he had seen a plot of a dead man committing suicide by taking poison after failing to attack the target in two or three costume crews. He never thought that this kind of plot would actually happen in front of him.

While Wen Chi’s expression was incomprehensible and Zuo Zhi was staring at the pill in deep thought.

After a long while, Zuo Zhi let out a chuckle, which brought back Wen Chi’s thoughts.

Zuo Zhi sneered and said: “They are so meticulous, even the assassins they send are unfamiliar faces, but it’s a pity that they end up being exposed to such a small detail.”

Hearing this, Wen Chi looked at the pill again but he didn’t see any difference between that pill and ordinary pills.

Zuo Zhi seemed to see Wen Chi’s doubts, she took out a handkerchief to wipe off the blood on the pills and then spread her palms, so that Wen Chi could check the pills: “Young Master, look carefully, what is written on it.”

Wen Chi took a closer look and saw a small character “Hua” engraved on the small pill. And since the pill was black, if it wasn’t in broad daylight, he wouldn’t have seen the word engraved on it.

“Hua?”

“Yes.” Zuo Zhi nodded, looking at the corpse on the ground with cold eyes, “He is an assassin sent by the Hua family.”

The Hua Family?!

Wen Chi couldn’t hide his surprise and stared blankly at Zuo Zhi.

Isn’t the Hua family the maternal family of Shi Ye’s mother? Not to mention what kind of relationship he had with Shi Ye, just based on the fact that he and the Hua family had never had any grudges or even the slightest dealings, why would the Hua family suddenly target him?

Could it be…

Could it be because of Shi Ye?

Wen Chi subconsciously thought that this was impossible. Shi Ye was more or less half of the Hua family and as the crown prince, Shi Ye and the Hua family depend on each other. If the Hua family attacked Shi Ye, it would be equivalent to killing a thousand enemies and losing eight hundred …… Why would the Hua family want to attack Shi Ye?

Soon, Wen Chi remembered what happened in the Eastern Palace, the dead Yue Shan and the dead young man whom Shi Ye once said were people sent by the Hua family.

At that time, Wen Chi didn’t understand Shi Ye’s meaning. To be precise, he didn’t have any idea about the Hua family but when he thought about it now, he felt a chill running down his back and he couldn’t help but shiver.

Wen Chi was full of doubts, but now is not the time to talk about these things. He was escorted by Zuo Zhi back to the place where the incident happened not long ago. Lord Yin in the carriage was no longer there, so the two hurried back to Zhou Mansion together and told Governor Zhou and others what happened.

Governor Zhou was shocked and hurriedly arranged for people to look for Lord Yin and deal with other aftermaths.

After searching for a while, the people of the Zhou Mansion finally found Lord Yin.

Lord Yin seemed to be quite frightened but fortunately he was safe and sound. Governor Zhou, whose heart was hanging in his throat, was relieved to see that Lord Yin was still alive.

After this incident, everyone who originally planned to work overtime during the New Year had to take their annual leave in advance.

When Wen Chi returned to his residence, he saw Shi Ye sitting at the table in his bedroom as usual, seemingly reading a book in his hand.

Hearing Wen Chi’s approaching footsteps, Shi Ye looked up.

Shi Ye was accustomed to staying here. He took off the mask on his face a few days ago, although the burn marks on half of his face were still hideous, Wen Chi didn’t feel anything anymore.

Wen Chi walked to Shi Ye’s side in silence, pulled out the chair and sat down.

Shi Ye glanced at the sky outside the window and said, “You came back very early today.”

Wen Chi hesitated and said, “Something happened on the road.”